How do you handle overnights?

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by misscaitp

.....

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

[DsMom]

Originally Posted by Ronin1966

Hello Julie:

Unfortunately I fear we are a "minority" in this regard. Even so I am not phased by it, not in the least.

Lows happen, highs happen, and nothing we do will prevent them. There are too many who fret, and make themselves completely nuts wringing their hands demanding answers for something that at times have no answers. Demand this nasty beast behave according to their program and I fear, completely unrealistic idealism.

They put themselves in a padded room doing so... and chain us (their diabetic) in that room with them. It is tragic to do so... Do not submit to it, if you can prevent it.

I have to agree with Chris that this is not true...you must admit that yourself or you'd never test or administer insulin. And, I probably am in the group that frets and often drives myself nuts over this. My main concern IS to avoid letting my son see this, however, and to let him remain as unaffected by it as possible despite all the finger pokes and site changes. I'm getting better and more relaxed as the years go by...but, when it is your child's future at stake, it is hard to relax completely.

I was mainly interested in the testing overnight question just to see how adults handle it. My two adult nieces with D do not do an abundance of testing overnight as far as I know. I think my sister rarely checked her daughter overnight as she grew from a two-year old to an adult. Just wondering about the experiences of adults...like to look into my crystal ball for my son's future.

[MissEmi]

Hi, I'm 20 years old, and I night check every night. I do have Dex in a glass now, and sleep through the night more than I used to. A few midnight wrestling matches with juice boxes too many have made me too scared not to check.

[MHoskins2179]

I was diagnosed when I was 5 years old back in 1984, at a time when blood meters had just come into the home market. My mom was also diagnosed when she was five. Probably, for those two reasons, testing wasn't a regular thing during my childhood unless something was up or a Low materialized. And that's behavior I've carried into adulthood.

Now, I have a CGM and rely on that many nights. But if I'm high (300+) at bedtime and take a decent correction, I will likely set an alarm to get up at 3-4a to test (since that's usually when I tend to plummet), just in case that was a false high or something. Typically, though, I just trust that I'll get through the night because I've done it for so long.

That said, I also love my sleep and as the years have progressed I've become Hypo Unaware at night. So there's that added risk, and something I deal with now by using the CGM.

Plus, I'm lucky to have a wonderful wife who is like a human-CGM and can tell if I'm thrashing or mumbling or acting strange while sleeping.

Anyhow, this is an interesting topic and I wonder how much of it does rely on when someone was diagnosed and at what age.

Thanks for the thread.

[wilf]

This has been on my mind is DD gets ever closer to finishing high school. Fascinating discussion - thanks everyone for your posts.

[LantusFiend]

I don't set an alarm to wake me up in the nights. I am the overnight caregiver to my brother, and that means I sleep in the hallway by his door and the alarm would wake both of us and I don't want to set another alarm. It also means that I have early morning obligations and feel reasonably confident that somebody would notice if I didn't wake up. Also, I'm up in the night most nights anyways; I'm up with my brother or I just wake up anyways. If I set my alarm for the nights and woke up my brother I'd be losing a lot of sleep, not just the amount of time it takes to check blood sugar.

[szofa12yrold]

Jonah,

I bought a kitchen timer for the hearing impaired off AMAZON. You can flip the switch to set if for no sound and vibrate and/or flashing light. It's a great BG timer and works well for church or meetings where I don't want everyone to hear it. At night, with the lights out, if I set it to wake me for BG check, which I don't often, I set it for flashing light and sound so that I can see where it is on my night stand to help me turn on the light or turn the timer off.

[MAS]

Hello D's mom.
I'm an adult but was only 11 when I was diagnosed with D. We didn't have blood glucose testing back then.
What I do now is have a Dexcom, which allows me to sleep at night. If your child will allow it, you might consider getting him or her this Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device. It has changed my life!!! You set the 'high' and 'low' alarms and the devise beeps and vibrates if ones BS hits a level.
And the new devise out next month has a 20 foot radius.
This might help.

[DsMom]

Originally Posted by MAS

Hello D's mom.
I'm an adult but was only 11 when I was diagnosed with D. We didn't have blood glucose testing back then.
What I do now is have a Dexcom, which allows me to sleep at night. If your child will allow it, you might consider getting him or her this Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device. It has changed my life!!! You set the 'high' and 'low' alarms and the devise beeps and vibrates if ones BS hits a level.
And the new devise out next month has a 20 foot radius.
This might help.

A cgm is definitely in my son's future. He is so thin right now, and tummy sites for his pump always result in problems. I'd like him to gain a bit of weight before we try a cgm because I know the sensor will be on his tummy. He keeps asking for one...and I am looking forward to the extra info as well!